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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

LOST Season 5 Episode 13 - Some Like it Hoth

Dead People, Ice Planets and Polar Bears...OH MY! Put them all together and you can get an idea of what happened on ABC's LOST this week! Hello LOSTIES and welcome back! Any crazed science fiction fan out there knew that once our LOST Crew was placed in 1977, that SOME homage would have to be paid to Star Wars. Co-Creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof initially bonded over a Star Wars t-shirt that Damon was wearing on the day they met. (I'm not a freak, watch the extras on the season 1 DVD! Okay, maybe I'm a freak for knowing that.) Of course, what you may not have known was that the idea for LOST was spawned from that initial meeting of the minds. Until now, Sawyer has rambled off various Star Wars nicknames here and there throughout the seasons, even exact phrases from the movies. But 1977 was a magical year for Science Fiction as STAR WARS came into our lives forever (well some of your lives, I didn't come around until the year after!). So how better to salute the wonderful movie franchise than to uncover yet another CHARACTER with some crazy Daddy issues? (The debate on the prequels and how they may or may not have ruined the franchise should be put on the back burner for now! Hurley is just worried about getting rid of the EWOKS at this point! Original Trilogy Baggage)

That's right, Miles Straum finally takes center stage after the strike-shortened season 4 postponed our Freighter folk's backstories to this year. What we ended up with was a fun little adventure for Miles and Hurley, the ongoing collapse of Sawyer and crew's DHARMA cover, and more plot movement and setup for what is seeming to be the FINAL CONFLICT on LOST Island. What lies in the shadow of the statue anyway? Sounds like it might not just be an expression! Anyway, let's not waste any more time folks. Time to dive into another WOW-worthy episode of a WOW-TASTIC season of LOST!

Miles - The Flashback Story

So before we even saw this episode, we had speculated that Miles was the baby that we saw in the season premiere with Dr. Pierre Chang (Marvin Candle, Edgar Hallowax, Marc Wickmund, etc...). We also got a glimpse of Chang's wife in the season premiere, so anyone with a good memory (or that has watched the episodes a few times) probably would have made the connection in the opening scene of this episode that Miles is the son of Dr. Chang, and that he and his mother left the island when he was a little boy or maybe even an infant (hence him not remembering living there). We see Miles discover his supernatural abilities as a boy, and him question them as he grew up. As an adult, he exploited them to earn a living (which we saw in his initial flashback scene in season 4). We also learn how and why he was recruited for the freighter and some other interesting things along the way. Here are some highlights from the flashbacks.

The clock in the beginning of the episode said 3:16. An obvious allusion to Ajira Flight 316 as well as the bible verse John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" But we discussed all of that fun stuff in the episode titled "316" anyway! Bottom line? The writers have new numbers to mess around with and they're not afraid to flaunt them in our face!

Did that apartment complex look like the one from the Karate Kid or is it just me? (probably just me!)

Little kid Miles had his first encounter with a dead person at the apartment. He "sensed" that the key to the dead man's room was under a white stone rabbit. (white rabbit anyone?)

Kind creepy stuff when Miles said that the dead guy was still talking to him and that he can hear him. Also weird that present day Miles (located in the past) told Hurley he doesn't have conversations with the Dead, he feels them! But we'll get there later! As we have seen before, Miles was able to determine how the man died.

Later in life, perhaps his late teens/early 20's, Miles returns home to visit his dying mother. Looked like cancer. He asked his mother why he is the way he is and why she never talked about his father. She said that his father is dead and that Chang kicked them out when Miles was a baby. Miles wanted to know where the body was so he could find out for himself. She alluded that it's on the island. Hmmm, so did Chang REALLY die when they said he died? It would seem that he made more films after the INCIDENT at the Swan Station which has not happened yet in 1977. I'm guessing we may see the events of baby Miles play out in the present day. And this is probably a good time to bring up that crazy video from Comic-Con last summer with Dr. Chang. It seems very possible that whatever THAT is about may be why he got his wife and son OFF of the island. Let's not forget that we here Daniel Faraday's voice in the video. And why does Chang bring up the "PURGE" with it being 30 years earlier? The purge doesn't happen until 1992! Anyway, I'd expect to see more of this before the end of the season.

Years later, not long before the freighter trip, we see Miles as a professional "GHOSTBUSTER" or helping loved ones be at peace. He's a con-man. He tells them what they want to hear and gets their money. Of course, the 2 times we have seen him collect money, both times he eventually returns it. Miles mentions that he needs to see a body. When the father of slain son tells Miles the football star was cremated and spread over the football field, Miles mentions that may not work. What does this say about the time that Miles talked to the GHOST in the season 4 flashback when he was just in the boy's bedroom? There was no body there that we knew about.

Anyway we get to see Naomi again. The girl from the freighter who first parachuted onto the island with Desmond's picture, told the LOSTIES that everyone thought they were dead, and ended up getting killed by Locke with a knife thrown into her back. Apparently Widmore (we can assume it's him I would think!) has been following Miles' work and thought he might be useful in extracting BEN from the island. There are lots of dead bodies on the island and they thought Miles could communicate with them to find him as Ben was involved with the DHARMA purge. I'm sure Widmore failed to mention that HE ordered the purge!

Naomi takes Miles to a dead body for his audition. Miles finds out that the dead man was Felix and he was delivering papers, photos and pictures of empty graves and a purchase order for an old airplane to Charles Widmore. Hmmm, when I first watched the scene I just assumed this confirmed that Widmore DID set up the fake flight 815 on the bottom of the ocean. But now thinking about the episode from last season "Meet Kevin Johnson" when Michael talked to Tom aka Mr. Friendly "off-island," I remembered that Tom was in possession of papers, photos and pictures of empty graves and a purchase order for an old airplane. Hmmmmmm did Tom kill Felix and steal all of this documentation that he showed to Michael? Was Felix doing RECON work for Widmore or was he delivering receipts of what Widmore purchased? Yikes, maybe I'm overthinking this, but I don't think we proved either way who set up the fake flight. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Naomi mentions that Widmore is offering $1.6 Million to Miles to help them extract "mass-murderer" Ben from the island. Anyone doing the math could have multiplied this by 2 and got $3.2 Million, a number that Miles asks Ben for in season 4 when he told Ben he knew who he was and that he could get that kind of money.

At another point before his trip on the freighter, Miles was kidnapped in a VAN by none-other than a man we really just started to get to know last week. His name? BRAM. Where did we see him last? Holding a gun to Frank Lapidus on Hydra Island in 2007 and working with Ilana. He tries to get Miles to work on HIS side (i.e. not Widmore's side) and to not get on the boat. He asked Miles if he knew "what lies in the shadow of the statue" which he didn't naturally. Bram said that this meant he is not ready to go to the island. Bram promised answers to Miles if he went with him. Why he has a gift, who he is, etc... Bram also promised information on Miles' father. Miles continues a running theme for the episode that he stopped caring for his father and that he just wants money. DOUBLE what Widmore is offering. DUM DUM DUMMMMM

There's your 3.2 million folks! So what can we conclude here? Well we can't say officially that Bram and Ben are on the same side, although it seems likely. We can probably confirm that Miles THINKS they are on the same side when he asks Ben for the $3.2 million.

Anyway, Bram refuses to pay the money and says that Miles will never fill that hole inside of him, and that he's playing for the wrong team. Bram says he is on the team that is going to win. Okay, so is this the WAR that Widmore spoke of to John Locke? Is it truly a Ben vs. Widmore battle? Or are Bram and Ilana part of some new faction and threat to the island? Is this the small chess moves being made to set up the grand battle for the island in season 6? Will this Bram guy be a major player? If Ben is in cahoots with these people, does that mean that Ben has left the island and created a life for himself OFF of the island as well? Pictures, passports and foreign money in season 4 all point to the fact that he has. We also know that he was in Tunisia at some point in time before his 2005 stint too. Somehow Ben and Charles Widmore were able to make boatloads of money off of the island while living ON the island for a large portion of their lives. Very interesting indeed! Anyway I'm rambling here!

As I mentioned earlier Miles returned to Football Dad to give back his money. It was more of Miles' father issues coming to play. The dad wanted to know if his son knew he loved him. Miles told the father that he lied earlier and it wasn't fair to the dead son. The father should have told him when he was alive. OUCH! Hopefully, Miles and Chang will have that bonding moment he so desperately needs!

1977

Things Falling Apart in DHARMAVILLE

So outside of Miles' story, we had a follow-up to what has been going on in DHARMAVILLE since Ben was taken by Sawyer and Kate to The Others. Sawyer and Kate have returned and try to cover up where they have been. Roger starts to get suspicious over some things Kate says and does. Jack tries to clean it up. And by the end of the episode Sawyer finds himself in a pickle with Phil! Here are the things worth noting from this storyline.

While Sawyer and Kate are re-entering the sonic fence area of the barracks , Sawyer contacts Miles over the walkie talkie and asks him to get rid of the security tape of them coming back. (hmmmm why not dispose of the one of them leaving too? unless it's on the same tape) Miles was catching up on some old sporting news as you see Tommy Lasorda was just hired as the coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Insert your Grey's Sports Almanac theories now (Back to the Future II for you untrained out there! Marty buys an almanac from the future in hopes he can bet on games in the past and make some dough and all hell breaks loose!)

Sawyer sends Kate to talk to Juliet and find out if anyone has been wondering what happened to Ben. Meanwhile, Sawyer leaves the premises again to look for Sayid.

Kate finds Juliet at the infirmary and updates her on the situation. She thanks Juliet for sending Sawyer to help. And then Roger comes in to spoil the fun as he is looking for Ben. He flips out! Seriously, Juliet didn't come up with a better excuse in all the time that Kate and Sawyer were gone than "I'm sorry, I was gone for 10 minutes and when I came back he wasn't here"? Yikes. I don't blame Roger for flipping out! Roger says he's going to contact security. Juliet feels like the jig might be up!

Next we see Roger drinking some DHARMA beer (his favorite pasttime) on the swingset. Kate tries to help the situation by calming him down. Kate keeps explaining that things are going to work out. She just has a feeling. Tells him not to give up hope as she opens up her own can of DHARMA beer. Roger starts getting suspicious of Kate, thinking she knows what happened to Ben. She seems to be getting OVER-interested in Ben.

Jack tries to cover for Roger's janitor duties by cleaning up the DHARMA classroom. Roger knows that Jack was "recruited" at the same time as Kate and asks what he knows about her. He tells Jack about about his suspicions about Kate giving blood for Ben, telling him about her "feeling that Ben will be alright." Roger talks about reporting her to Horace. Jack, seemed to come a little out of his "I'm not going to do anything" mode by trying to steer Roger off of the path. Jack tells Roger that he's drunk and getting some crazy ideas, that he knows Kate and she wouldn't do anything to hurt Ben (at least not CHILD Ben!). This seems to calm Roger down for now.

If you take a closer look at the chalk board that Jack is erasing you will see some Egyptian scribblings on the board. Looks like DHARMA is getting into the whole Egyptian symbolism too, eh? Pretty good timing with the creation of that SWAN Hatch and the CLOCK that counts down to the end of the world! (you know, the clock that when the timer hits zero, a bunch of Egyptian Hieroglyphics come up?) Not sure where to go with all of that, but it does make me think that there is something more to DHARMA's interest in the Egyptian ties of the island.

Sawyer returns home that night to find that Jack is having some coffee with Juliet. Jack came to fill in Sawyer on the "Kate" situation from the day, that her heart was in the right place and that he tried to diffuse the situation. Sawyer gets a little flustered at the situation but then recognizes Jack's efforts to be a team player and thanks him.

And of course, as Jack leaves the house and Sawyer walks outside to breath in some of that fresh DHARMA air, Phil arrives with some interesting news. He figured out who stole Ben. SAWYER himself! But he came to the Head of Security whom he's worked with for 3 years hoping there was a logical explanation for all of it. And the Sawyer does what we all have wanted to do, KNOCKS that punk out! Sawyer tells Juliet to get some rope. Ohhhh boy, this isn't going to be good. Mr. LaFleur's cover story has about run its course. Can't wait to find out what happens!

Miles and Hurley's Secret "Circle of Trust" Mission With Sawyer being absent "looking for the escaped prisoner" Horace asks Miles to become part of the "Circle of Trust" and entrusts Miles with a SOLO mission to deliver a package to Radzinsky. Miles will then return with a package that needs to be delivered to Pierre Chang at the Orchid. Hurley gets mixed up in the adventure and comedy ensues! And of course, some juicy reveals occur along the way. Here is what went down:

Horace asks Miles to take the package to grid 334 and bring back Radzinsky's package with no questions asked. Grid 334 is HOSTILE territory. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put the clues together here! Radzinsky has been discussing plans for the Swan station since we first met him. We know they are trying to keep it a secret from the Hostiles. We also knew that the first hatch our LOSTIES discovered in 2004 was very far from all of the other DHARMA stations. But it is exciting nonetheless that we are witnessing the creation of the legendary SWAN station!

It turns out what Miles brought to gun-toting whiny Radzinsky was a body bag to put a, you guessed it, dead body into (package #2 for Miles to return). It looked like we had a man shot in the head, but that was not the case! Miles talks to the dead guy and eventually we find out that the man's name was Alvarez and and that his fillings shot up from his tooth and blowing through his brain, killing him. Remember back in season 2 when Desmond told Jack every time he walked by the CONCRETE wall in the hatch that his fillings hurt? (I love how we all used to think that crazy Scotsman was telling us that his "feelings" hurt!) Electromagnetism folks!

When Miles returns, Horace is on the phone with Pierre Chang. He mentions that if the death was caused by electromagnetism they need to know. Horace asks Miles to bring the body to Chang at the Orchid. Miles hesitated, most likely because he didn't want to interact with his father. (at this point in the episode it had not been officially revealed yet though)

Meanwhile, Hurley started loading up Miles' van with sandwiches, complete with Hurley's garlic mayo, for the Orchid workers. He figured that he would go WITH Miles to the Orchid. Naturally, Miles couldn't figure out how to explain to Hurley that he needed to go by himself. So, Hurley and Miles team up for another comedic adventure! You gotta love Hurley's line about carpooling "It will help with global warming which hasn't happened yet. Maybe it will prevent it!" You really just gotta love Hurley. He had some classic lines in this episode which I will try to unveil to you as we go along!

On the journey, Hurley is writing in a notebook and asks how to spell "Bounty Hunter." Anyone that recognized the episode title of HOTH had to make the immediate connection to The Empire Strikes Back, but we will hold off for the big reveal!

Hurley smells something in the van and suspects Miles for some gas passing. Miles claims it's Hurley's garlic-mayo. But Hurley finds the dead body. "There's a body bag with a dead body in it!" Miles explains how the guy died. And the Hurley suspects that Miles can talk to dead people because "so can he."

Miles is intrigued by Hurley's comment and asks him more about it. They have conversations? Hurley says yes, that he actually sees them and that he sometimes plays chess with them (Mr. Eko last season). Miles says that is not how his "POWER" works. He doesn't chat with ghosts, he feels them. When they die their brain stops functioning there is just who they were and what they knew before they died. This confuses me again with the flashback scene we saw with Miles last season where he talked to the boy, asked him some questions and then something fell over in the boy's bedroom as if he was actually there. I guess he may still have just sensed the boy's presence, but something isn't really tying up there! Again, gotta love Hurley's line "you're just jealous that my power is better than yours!"

They arrive at the Orchid. Chang is not happy about Hurley being around for the trip. Hurley mentions he won't talk about the body. Chang threatens him with the worst job on the island, even worse than a cook. "I like being a cook!" (I'm telling you, classic lines all over the place!) That would be cleaning up the "turds" from the Polar Bears on Hydra Island. Ahhh, you gotta love the mentioning of Polar Bears in the same episode that has the Ice Planet "HOTH" in the title! Of course, this is the first time we officially confirmed that the BEARS in the cages on Hydra Island were indeed POLAR Bears. We had assumed with 99% certainty, but here's the 1% if anyone was still doubting! The same Polar Bears that learned how to work machines and feed themselves food. Maybe the same polar bears that were released onto the main island, found the caves (where one took Mr. Eko) and through the underground cave system, found their way to the colder dwellings. Perhaps even arriving to where the donkey wheel was and figured out how to turn THAT bad boy and end up in Tunisia! (Can't take credit for that one folks! Got that from a COMMENTER on the Gather site where I post the blog too! Brilliant idea though!)

The body is brought inside the Orchid. Hmmmm, are they going to transport the body through TIME? Chang requests Miles to stay until he returns. Hurley starts calling Chang some bad names. Miles confirms that Pierre Chang is indeed his father.

Hurley goes on a rant about Miles' dad being the dude from all of the "movies" (DHARMA Films). And he asks Miles why he changes his name for every video. Miles seems to know why because he said that he didn't want to talk about it. But how did he know it was his dad? He got in line behind his mother at the cafeteria. Nice! Hurley asks about the purge and shouldn't Miles say something? Miles says that he can't change anything so why bother? Hmmmm, maybe Miles DOES tell Chang about the Purge which makes him think the purge is imminent (see video above) even though it doesn't happen for years to come. Of course with Daniel talking on the video, it could be HIM that reveals this information.

Chang tells Miles to take him to Radzinsky at the work site. He looks at Hurley and says if he utters one word "Polar Bear Poop, got it!" Miles asked what happened to the body, Chang simply responds "What body?" which makes me think they disposed of it indefinitely. Which makes me think they transported it to another place and time. But I dunno. Maybe I am overthinking again!

The journey from Orchid to Swan was filled with classic Hurley moments as he tried to bond the long-lost Father and Son. Gotta love how he went from asking what he does at the Orchid (classified) to asking if he has told his wife or KIDS about it. Then asking what his 3 month old's name was. "Small world! That's your name too, right Miles?" Then the whole Jazz (Miles Davis) discussion was great where we find out that his wife likes jazz where he prefers country (proven by the Willie Nelson song playing in the season premiere). Hurley then tries to encourage them all to go out for a beer together sometime and get to know each other.

They arrive at the work-site where we see a camoflauged gate that Chang opens. Miles drives them through to the site. Chang says he will get a ride back with Radzinsky. Hurley wonders what the place is until he sees the infamouse HATCH door and a worker inscribing the "Serial Number" 4-8-15-16-23-42 into it. Niiiiice. Hurley realizes what they are building "the hatch that crashed our plane."

Okay, seriously? Miles didn't figure out from Juliet's speech about the hatch during their time flashing days that they were building the Swan hatch here? He knows how to find grid 334 but cannot figure out where the Swan Hatch was going to be? I find that to be a stretch, but whatever! Maybe not everyone can remember the island as well as Charles Widmore and John Locke!

Hurley explains that an accident is going to happen at the hatch (THE INCIDENT!) where they will have to build a computer that you have to push so the world doesn't end. Would be kinda interesting to see how our LOSTIES may be involved in said incident and if it would result in them being moved back to the appropriate TIME ZONE. Afterall, we do know that Desmond traveled through time when he turned the key and made the sky purple!

Hurley tries to force the issue of Miles bonding with his father. He won't be around in the future so you can get to know him now. He was totally down for that beer dude. When Hurley got to the point of Miles holding himself as a baby and changing his own diaper, Miles lost it. He doesn't want to get to know his father. He wasn't around when he was little. He is dead and gone, he never cared about him. Hurley says that he is NOT gone. He's alive in this time.

And then we get to the moment we have been waiting for! Miles steals Hurley's journal and starts to read from it "Exterior Hoth: Little spy robot thingy zips through the atmosphere and crashes onto the snowy planet below. That's when Chewbacca shows up and blasts it away with his crossbow-laser. He shakes his FURY fist into the sky in triumph. Chewbacca: ROOOOWWWWWRRRRRLLLLL" Hurley - "It's furry. Furry fists. I need a spell check" CLASSIC!!! Hurley confesses that he is writing Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars just came out in 1977 and George will be looking for a sequel soon. He has seen Empire 200 times so he thought he would help George out and send him the script with a couple improvements! (if you talk to any Star Wars fan out there, there are definitely things that they would like to change out of George's Bible! George can't get any love from his fans these days.) This was just hysterical.

Miles calls the idea the stupidest he has ever heard. And Hurley drives home the point that at least he's not scared to talk to his own dad. He later gets into the fact that his father left when he was 10 but was given a 2nd chance with him and they are the best of friends now. Miles said that Chang left him when he was a baby and that he never knew him. Then, Hurley compares the situation to Empire Strikes Back. We should be glad that Hugo probably never gets that script to George because he totally recalled the story wrong! He said that Luke found out Darth Vader was his father and instead of putting his light saber away and talking about it, he ended up getting his hand cut off. DUDE, Hurley, he got his hand cut off THEN found out Vader was his father! He goes on to say they worked it out eventually but at what cost? Then he complained about all of the problems with Return of the Jedi: Another Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett was eaten by the Sarlacc and we got the Ewoks. "It all could have been avoided if they just communicated. Let's face it. Ewoks sucked dude." Best Hurley line ever! Of course, only being 5 when Return of the Jedi came out (and scared to death by Darth Vader), I loved those furry little Ewoks! But yeah, looking back at how live-action teddy bears took down the Empire? Kinda silly!

Hurley then leaves Miles alone with his thoughts. Miles looks into Chang's house and sees him reading to baby Miles and realizing that Chang really DID love him. (note: this also further proves to the naysayers that our LOSTIES can exist in the same time as themselves. I tried to tell you!) Miles begins to cry, acknowledging that he has been holding on to this pain for quite some time. When Chang leaves the house on business he tells Miles that he needs him. It may as well have been Chang telling Miles that he has ALWAYS needed him in his life because he seemed to have an awakening of the opportunity Hurley spoke of all episode.

Chang tells Miles that the sub is here from headquarters and that he needs Mile's help bringing them in. They are scientists from Ann Arbor (University of Michigan - where DHARMA founders The DeGroots reside)

When Miles gets to the Sub, a familiar person steps out of it. It's Daniel Faraday! "Hey Miles, Long time no see!"

BOOM LOST

Woaaaaaaa. Daniel was OFF Island?! Working for DHARMA? What was he doing there? This will answer the ultimate question of if our time travelers leave the Island if they will be in the same time period. Crazy episode of LOST. You had to love all of the Star Wars stuff, but also the information revealed to us with BRAM trying to recruit Miles, Chang being Miles' father, seeing the Swan Hatch being built, watching the LOSTIES' cover story crumble, and having lots of Hurley dialogue! For the final 4 hours (3 weeks) of the season, I suspect it is going to get very intense, just like every other season.

Speculation on the Next New Episode of LOST(Warning: Potentially Mild Spoilers ahead! Skip if you don't want to know the title of the episode and whose character-centric episode is next!)

The next episode (in 2 weeks) is entitled "THE VARIABLE." I am guessing it is going to be Daniel's crazy flashback story. Will we find out why he was crying when he saw fake flight 815 at the bottom of the ocean? Will we find out more about his connection to Desmond and his revised thoughts on Time Travel?

Something that interests me in the title is that last season we had a Time Travel episode called "THE CONSTANT." Anyone who paid attention to science experiments in school know that in every science experiment there needs to be a CONSTANT and a VARIABLE! Something tells me, we may be getting an additional twist to our Time Travel theories.

In Closing

That's pretty much all I have for the week. I tried to be less wordy for the episode and think I was successful until I got to the Hurley/Miles section! There is no new episode next week, just one of those crazy recap shows. So, please keep the discussion in the comments going strong for the next couple of weeks. There's always lots to discuss with this crazy show! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always. I will see you in 2 weeks! NAMASTE, and May the Force be with you!

This blog is also posted on Gather.com. Feel free to check it out and send some votes my way! You may also stumble upon additional discussions there!

Special thanks as always to Sledgeweb for providing awesome screen shots on their site.

97 comments:

Mike V, great recapDo you think Bram is working for Ben or is someone else in play? The war is clearly getting set up but can you speculate on how you think it will take place? Do you think it will be in the time Locke and Ben are in now. Could Daniel showing up be the means that the Oceanic's are able to get to this time?

Thanks Hurley Ate Me! I mentioned in the blog I'm not sure what to think about the Bram/Ilana contingent (Ben or another regime). We have enough evidence to know that Ben has people OFF Island with Jill the Butcher and his Lawyer Dan Norton. We also know he has been off of the island various times. So it is possible that he is behind this group that was planning to come to the island all along.

I think any WAR that is going to happen will be in the 2007 timeframe. I really think by the end of this season, they will be out of the DHARMA past.

I think that the INCIDENT at the Swan hatch may be involved in their return to the current time...and yeah I am sure Daniel assists in fixing things as well.

So if everyone is going to go to present day (2007)....then I wonder why Christian is telling Sun that she has a journey ahead of her to find her husband. Should be interesting how it plays out over the next 3 episodes!

Mike V, great recapDo you think Bram is working for Ben or is someone else in play? The war is clearly getting set up but can you speculate on how you think it will take place? Do you think it will be in the time Locke and Ben are in now. Could Daniel showing up be the means that the Oceanic's are able to get to this time?

hey Mike, Good work on the recap and more importantly on picking up on the scene near "felix".Miles stresses on the fact the the graves were empty and that Felix was taking them to Widmore. I would agree that its likely that Widmore was the one investigating the fake plane being placed and not Ben. (not hard to believe as we know Ben rarely tells the truth and that he was desperate to hide the island from the rest of the world)

Was it just me or was jack very fast at rubbing off that chalk :) It wasn't such great info, but it proves that the DI educated there kids about Egyptian history and there gods.

The "what lies in the shadow of the...." group seem to know a lot about whats going on. They are likely to be Ben`s outside world buddies who gave him the info on each of the passengers on the boat.

Finally, we know that The Empire Strikes back wasn't perfect, if Hurley did manage to get the improved script to the author, we in the present world would see the movie as being perfect. This probably shows that Hurley gives up or flashes back to the future before he can complete his task.

Oh and good point about the gasoline and the material + the VW vans... No way can you bring all that in sub, and I dubs that there was a airfield large enough to land a cargo plane... interesting...

Thanks Sri Lanken! I just don't know what to think about that Graves/Purchase order scene. We know that TOM ends up with the information that Felix had. But what is still up in the air is why Tom retrieved the information (cover-up or EXPOSE' of Widmore - pun intended!) So you're thinking Widmore was investigating Ben planting the plane right? I think I was actually leaning the other way with Widmore. But if Ben is behind these "SHADOW STATUE" people, then maybe they ARE the ones that planted the plane.

I had a crazy thought... maybe Bram and Ilana and crew are "Others" not working for Ben, but for Richard. They knew Sayid needed to be there in 1977 to shoot Ben, so they grabbed him and put him on the plane.

The dharma notebook hurley was writng in was the same as the ones that the people used in one station and put in the shute that shot them out to a random spot on the island. did we ever find out the reason the notebooks were being sent to to the middle of nowhere?

i feel like hurley/frank will be somehow involved with the food drop since hurley is the one in charge of the food in the begining and then he is put in charge as the chef and franks is the only one who has succefully landed on the island without crashing.

If the "Shadow of the Statue" people are not Others or do not work for Ben, then possibly they are new DI ppl there to re-constitute the DI like Chang mentioned they needed to do in the comic-con video.

Thanks Mark! With the Pearl Station notebooks...remember the video was saying how they were meant to observe the people in the SWAN and that the people IN the Swan thought their job was pertinent when it really wasnt? We found out in the season 2 finale that it was really the opposite and the people in the Pear Station were really serving no purpose. So that would be why the notebooks went to nowhere.

Interesting with Hurley and Frank being responsible for DHARMA Food Drops. It's just as good a theory as any! We know that the Flame Station was used to call for the food drop....we just don't know where the food supply came from! Maybe DHARMA uses the Lamp Post station to determine windows of when they send these food drops to the island. Of course, how could they send the food without sending anyone or anything else with it? No clue!

Yeah, i think that question was asked before to the producers about if the DHARMA initiative was still around OFF of the island. And they never really gave a concrete answer. We also thought that the freighter people may have been DHARMA folk at first as well.....so I guess we really can't rule them out just yet!

1.) One comment I read was about one of Pierre's orientation video's which strikes me as being extremely relevant with old/ young miles. Chang freaks out when the rabbit's get close to each other. Is something going to happen between young miles and old miles which plants this theory in the Doc's head? Does this prompt him to send his family packing from the island ( or the imminent purge)?

2.) I'm leaning toward that the group which surfaced with Bram and Illana are the "new Dharma". Marvin Candles Plea in the comic con video was that it was imperative to keep the DI alive. This seems likes Bram's group . People who operate outside of Ben and Charles's circle and that both Ben and Charles have been trying to stop. What if this group is under the control of Elloise? We haven't really straightened out her story yet, and Ben seemed upset when Locke mentioned her. What if this 3rd group was responsible for the Oceanic cover up? This would explain why Bram knew Dr. Chang's backstory and maybe why Charles sent Felix to get the documentation and Ben sent Mr Friendly to get the same documentation. As Mike said in the blog, why would each man go through so much trouble to get pictures of dead graves and purchase orders if that had been behind it from the beginning. I think this is the ultimate clue that another group is sitting in the middle here.

Totally agree that it is still not at all clear who did the fake plane set-up ! I've already read in several places this am that people feel this proves it was Widmore or proves it was Ben - but I don't think it proves anything.

I'm wondering if these new recruits were sent by Mrs Hawking ! maybe she's fed up with the mess that both Widmore and Ben have made and she's gonna fix it.

Noticed that Jack was erasing part of the egyption stuff, leaving the furthest left section with the symbols when Ben's dad walks in, but at the end of the shot the whole board is erased. Sure it's just a production issue though and not something to be looked at.

Mike, every summer the LOST Producers (Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) host a LOST Q&A Panel at Comic Con in San Diego (traditionally a Comic Book Convention that has morphed into all things SCI FI!)

After a season finale airs, they go into radio silence and do not break silence until these comic-con panels. So they usually have a treat in store for the LOST Faithful that attend Comic Con. There was a tease for season 4 with an outtake orientation video for the Orchid. So anyone who was at comic-con or kept in touch with this blog or other places during the "off-season" were able to know about the ORCHID before it made its appearance on the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTvAUVPyLI

Ironically, the comment Rob makes above about the bunnies being in contact with each other comes from this video.

Similarly last summer there was a "TEASE" for season 5 where we found out Marvin Candle's real name was Pierre Chang and kinda had a hint that our LOSTIES would end up back in the 70's with the comments he was making (plus Daniel Faraday's voice in the background). My guess is this is a tease for the season finale as well.

Rob - btw - great observations! I could see both of those theories coming into play somehow.

The only weak spot was Ben's dad running out of the infirmary to go to security and instead grabbing a 6 pack and hanging out ?!? Not very likely, but I guess story-wise they needed just a little delay in any alarms being rang yet.

Agree that the war will be in 2007 era. Locke and Ben soooo have to be involved in the war afterall.

If the Incident is the mechanism that gets them back to the right time, is Daniel the one who comes up with the they whole inputting of the numbers thing ? Too funny.And maybe then Sun's journey is Faith. Faith that a dead John Locke is there and can help her ?

When yound Ben was first shot didn't Juliette say the sub would not be back for a long time ? So does that mean that the sub comes and goes more than people know, that these people are sneaking on to the island ?

Was there a purpose to the Hurley/Miles conversaton highlighting the differences in their 'powers' ? By Miles stating that once the brain stops functioning you can't just see or interact with the dead was purposely showing that Hurley only sees his dead friends and has current visits, while Miles hears strangers and can hear what was happening at the time of their death.

Mike V - right in the spot of your blog where you quote Hurley needing the spell checker - you have a misspelling ! LOL Firsts/fists. Normally not a nitpicker about spelling - but was enjoying the irony !

I think the Comic-Con video of Pierre Chang suggests that Faraday warned him of the Purge (as you said). When he mentions his "credible source" for knowing the future, Faraday tries to hurry him along, as if he wants to be kept out of it.

In addition to staying away from his infant self, Miles probably shouldn't get too close to his mother. She would recognize him when he got older. Then again, Marty McFly's parents didn't seem to recognize their own son from 1955 when he grew up.

That Tommy Lasorda SI cover was from March 14, 1977, so I guess that gives us an approximate date for this episode. Of course, it could've been an old issue.

Interesting theory about Bram and Ilana being part of a third group trying to control the island. The idea that Mrs. Hawking is behind it is interesting too. Still, why would she have worked with Ben in helping the Oceanic 5 get back to the island if she was opposed to him? Could it be that she was using him? Another question, if a third group is involved, does this mean two of the three groups are going to unite against the other at some point?

Weasel's theory that Bram and Ilana work for Richard is another interesting one. As we all know, he doesn't report to the leader of the Others, and he possibly went against Widmore's wishes to induct Ben into the Others. If we assume the "statue" is the four-toed statue, Richard might be the only one who was alive to know what was in its shadow.

Ian - Mrs Hawking would have been working with Locke had Ben not killed him. And Mrs H is the one who stated that they all had to go back. So from her perspective she got what she wanted, mostly any way.

I just thought of another thing. I mentioned the possibility of two groups joining up to fight the third group. Widmore took care of Locke in Tunisia, so we could presume that Locke is on Widmore's side, or at least willing to go along with him to some degree. If Ben now has to do whatever Locke tells him, does that mean Ben's people are going to join forces with Widmore's people? Perhaps to take down the "shadow of the statue" people?

P.S. Mike, will the Flyers still be playing by the time the next LOST episode airs?

great recap mike!Have to agree with the ridiculousness of Bens Dad being all upset about his son, then finds out hes missing and goes and has a few cans of beers in the sun. Then follows that up with a bit of mopping up, maybe go look for ur son....no no, none of that lol.

I'm sort of leaning to the idea that the Ilana and Bram could be the new dharma. Lets face it, Horace was their first leader, not very tough at all, bit of a Hippie, and they all got killed. Poor show. So if your going to get new recruits why not some big tough guy with a gun and some hot chick with attidude. Duno, could be wrong tho!

We know that Sawyer and company are about to get their cover blown. The fact that the game of Risk was still on the table when Ben walked into his old house in the present time (last week's episode), means that the Losties (the ones about to get their cover blown, that is) left the scene within days of the game being left unfinished on the table. If they had stuck around in the '70's for months or years more, surely someone would have put the game away by then :)

Anyway, I think they are about to leave the scene, and the only obvious way is time travel again.

This presents a problem, because Locke's presence on the island has stopped time travel. It was such a hassle, what with bloody noses and all), but it looks like time travel has to happen again to get everyone back together.

So if time travel does occur again, does this mean that John Locke is off-island, therefore the restriction on time travel is lifted? Or, now that we have Daniel back in the 70's, he may be the one who restarts time travel. And, can he do it without nose bleeds???

Kathleen, I agree that our LOSTIES will not be stuck in the 70's past this season. I don't know what this has to do with the RISK game being unplayed though! The fact that it was left untouched just shows that the future has NOT been changed by the LOSTIES being in the DHARMA past. It was left just the way they left it in season 4 (2004/2005) and no one has inhabited the houses since then (2007).

As for "restarting time travel" I don't think we are meant to connect Time Travel with them constantly flashing through time...that was caused by Ben turning the donkey wheel and dislodging it. I think there are "OTHER EVENTS" on the island that may cause them to move through time.

Think of major historical events in the DHARMA past that we have yet to see....a certain event that was referred to by Hurley in this week's episode with the SWAN STATION. A little thing called....."THE INCIDENT!" I'm thinking there's a good chance that this incident is what puts them back where they belong. We know when Desmond blew the hatch, his mind was sent traveling back through time. Perhaps it will be something similar to that.

But I don't think we are going to see people FLASHING back and forth through time again...i think we're past that. Keep in mind...we also saw Kate, Jack, Hurley and Sayid "TIME TRAVEL" to the past without having to go through constant flashes....they were flashed to a SPECIFIC point in time. And that had nothing to do with the Donkey Wheel (so we think)

i'm totally rambling and making no sense. Bottom line...i don't think the donkey wheel will necessarily be how they get back to their time. UNLESS.....

Of course...we still need an explanation for how that Polar Bear ended up in Tunisia (the one Charlotte Found). Who knows??? Maybe that will happen in this season finale sending our LOSTIES back where they came from. I would just think if that's the case, it needs to somehow be tied to events happening with "The Swan" station.

Mike V,,Hurley said ham is good, and I did send that twice by accident. Am I the only person who believes that Miles came on the Widmore freighter but he is playing for the other team. Why else did he want to stay on the island when Daniel was motorboating the O6 to the freighter. I know he ask for 3.2 mill from Ben but I just think someone may have got to him to learn more about his father. unrelated, In Dead is Dead ,, did anyone else see the portrait of the blonde in Ben's home? Locke was talking to Sun,, it was obvious that the portrait was in the background for some reason,, just curious about any thoughts.Lastly What is in the shadow of the Statue. Is this some kind of question for Richards people? maybe where the bomb is buried? If Bram knows about Miles before he even gets on the Frieghter then he must have historical information. Could it be from the Others and Richard? Who else would know this type of question except maybe Widmore. I say Richard is the fighting for the island ,, maybe with the help of Eloise!!

I think it is Ben. He lies all the time and everywhere, so why not in the shadow of the statue as well?

Speaking of well, the well was near the statue, and went down to the donkey wheel chamber. Whatever that wheel is, it is down there,probably in the shadow of the statue. So whatever lies in that shadow of the statue is what the donkey wheel is connected to, what changed Ben into a liar, what the whole island is about.

totally off-the-wall thought. You know who we still haven't heard much about except for a few name drops here and there? Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation.

We learned last year that MAGNUS HANSO was a crewmember of the Black Rock and he had a journal that Widmore won in an auction.

Alvar Hanso was a financial backer for the DHARMA Initiative.

What if these "SHADOW STATUE" people are descendants of the BLACK ROCK crew or Hanso crew? We most likely will be getting more information about the Black Rock in the final season...so what better way to tie it in than by introducing characters to us this season that might have some sort of relation to it?

My theory on the Bram group is that they are the children of Dharma. They are going back to get revenge and reconstitute the Dharma Initiative. They are all about the right age and in the Candle video posted on the blog, he tells them to restart Dharma.

BDA, right now that seems like the most plausible theory. Something DHARMA related. Children would be a good idea going into the whole "unable to conceive on the island" theme. But yeah, there has to be a reason for Chang's message in the Comic-con teaser video... My guess is we might see that being filmed in the finale with more information surrounding it. It's already making more sense now that we've seen 13 episodes this season lol

Anyway, i was just throwing out another random possibility with the HANSO stuff.

this was a very predictable episode to me. from miles being chang's son to dan being one of the scientists coming on the ferry.but i liked the star wars tribute and finding out more stuff about miles. and i'm so happy that faraday's back!i agree with the theory that bram's crew are dharma children looking for revenge/sent by elloise. i think these are the most possible senarios.

MJ - i like your idea about daniel being the one to come up with the inputting of the numbers... sounds good! lol

I was wondering if anyone else noticed that the construction supervisor at the Swan (the one reading off Hurley's' #s' to be stamped on the hatch) looks a lot like the guy holding up the red stratocaster on the Geronimo Jackson album cover "Magna Carta"

Mike, first off great recap as always. Ok, so there has been something that has bothered me ever since we discovered that the only way onto the island is the by way of the sub. But with us witnessing the construction of the Dharma camp I feel the need to ask. How in the hell do they get everything onto the island to build it all? I mean do they expect us to believe that they are dropping vans, backhoes, steel beams and other building materials via airplane drop like they do the resupply food drop? It just seems like there'd be a more reasonable way that they would accomplish this, but then again reasonable isn't really something that this island is. Thanks

Thanks Dave C! Yeah, I think some other people brought up a similar question on how DHARMA got all of that stuff there. But, I wouldn't say that we know the "SUB" is the only way to the island. That really wouldn't explain the existence of the LAMP POST station for DHARMA.

but yeah...i wonder if they are even going to bother explaining how DHARMA got all of that equipment/vehicles there. Or if it will be a debate after LOST similar to CLERKS getting into the deaths of many innocent independent contractors working on the 2nd Death Star lol

There seems to be a lot of moving on and off the island that we don't know about so there must be another way than just via the sub. Besides didn't JL blow it up? With all the time jumping I can't remember if anyone has left the island since then?

There was the whole "get me the man from tallahassee" thing that happened in the same episode that Locke blew up the sub...and I don't think they used the sub to do that! Tom (mr friendly) had left the island at some point to talk to Michael, but that MAY have been before the sub was blown up. It was definitely during the season 3 Island timeline at some point because he was killed by Sawyer in the finale.

Since the sub blew up...we saw people leave the island's premesis via Helecopter, Zodiac Raft and Donkey Wheel. They had to fly specific bearings and take the raft on a specific bearing to get out of the island's radius though. Michael and Walt ALSO left via boat following a specific (but different) bearing.

Yeah, SUB is clearly not the only way (if it's even a way at all!! i really want to see this sub in motion and MOVING to and from the island and why passengers need to be strapped down and unconscious for the trip!)

Article and interview with Michael Emerson posted on TV Guide. Not spoilery - more like vaguely hinty for those who try to avoid the spoilers. He talks a little about what we have left this season - and it's nothing we haven't guessed we'll be seeing given the episode names, so not spoilery in my mind any way. He also talks a little about smokey.

just rambling...one of the DI videos mentioned that the island has several "pockets of energy" with unique properties.What if the hatch and the cart wheel are two interconnected pockets. It seems that the DI knew the link while the hatch was being built,why else would they use similar Egyptian symbols for the countdown clock.

Both the hatch and the wheel well( that later becomes the orchid) have EM activity. What if the hatch is a chamber that has a timer that opens to the EM "pocket" every 108 minutes unless the numbers are entered.

We now know Daniel has been off the island. We also know he has conducted experiments (having the rocket fired from the freighter in "The Economist", for example) and knows to follow certain bearings to go to and from the island. Is he the person who figured out how (and when!) to find the island and thus the Lamp Post was born?

Hmmm. Mike V - just read your post about maybe the Shadow Statue peeps being part of Hanso Foundation.

I am NOT going to spoil anything here - but in the article/interview that I just posted Michael Emerson said 1 line - and no it was not the name Hanso - that leapt to my mind when reading your theory. LOL Cryptic enough ? Ah - fun times.

yeah i think we had thought back when we found out about the lamp post that Daniel may have been involved somehow. Maybe the next episode could shed light on that. the question is...if it was him...what time period may that have been? wouldn't 1974-1977 have been too late since DHARMA had to FIND the island before then to already be there?

thanks for the link MJ...i actually saw that video before it was on TV Guide (i forget where)...and yes...there is one particular "thing" (to be generic) we will probably get some information about in the finale that people may have been speculating about since season 3.

I'm speculating that we may even get an entire 2 hour backstory on said THING. lol Would be kinda cool!

whether shadow people are in cahoots with that thing...i just don't know!

can I be any more blatantly obvious yet confusing at the same time!? lol

I agree with the theory that Miles tells Chang about the purge so Chang gets his wife and Miles off the island. The only problem I have with it is why wouldn't Miles' mom tell Miles that noble history? Why say your dad was a loser when he saved their lives? So something is missing here, for me anyway. Maybe she never knew the truth? So Change sacrificed (there's that word again!) his memory to save them? Maybe if she knew the truth she would think he was crazy and not go?

Yeah, I agree that even if Miles doesn't directly tell Chang about their relation to each other, it will be revealed somehow to Chang. From the Comic-Con video, it seems very clear that Chang is going to have knowledge of the future. And it seems that Daniel will be very involved in him having this knowledge as well.

Whether the Mrs. Chang will be informed of why she is being booted, I don't know. But maybe she never told Miles about it because Pierre Chang warned her of the "RULES" of time travel and told her not to say a word. Or maybe she just didn't know.

But she also mentioned Chang being dead to Miles. So how would she be aware of this? Or did she lie to Miles? We know Chang is around AFTER the Incident because he films some of those DHARMA videos in the 80's not to mention he films the SWAN STATION video which was POST-INCIDENT (and with a prosthetic hand)....and of course...the Pearl Station Video was filmed AFTER the Swan Video (year was later, and it was a VCR instead of Reel to Reel)....but he had 2 fully functional hands. TIME TRAVEL perhaps???

Don't you just love how I am able to stick to one topic at a time? lol

Yeah..call it what you will. A sickness? Ridiculousness? AWESOMENESS? Some combination of them all?

In any case, that's what I'm here for! It's one of the main reasons I created the blog. Just to keep everything we're learning over 6 seasons straight and somehow tying it all together in the end! And of course, everyone's comments help point out what I miss too.

Yeah, i just started reading your blog this season. Once it got into all the time travel and stuff, i needed this blog to help keep everything together in my mind. You do a great job! Your blog rocks, and i got a bunch of my friends that watch lost into reading your blog too. Thanks!

Jane, I guess there is no official word that it's Daniel in the video, it's just the popular opinion. Kinda like it sounds like Hurley's voice on the radio tower in the 80's when Rousseu's crew arrives to the island.

I am guessing, like last season's comic con video, we will get to see some version of Chang's video in the finale this year. Last year were "OUTTAKES" from the Orchid Station video...and then in the season 4 finale we got the FINAL version of the video. pretty clever stuff!

I'm late commenting but I was going with the whole Miles tells his father about the future and Chang then sends them off island before purge....I think that Miles mother was supposed to die in the purge and yet they show a young Miles (at about the time of the purge?) with his dying mother asking those father questions; she was supposed to die/whatever happens happens?

Also...a few show posts back, I predicted that Phil would be the one to uncover the truth about O6 and friends...I wonder if he will get the chance now that Sawyer knocked him out:-0

good thinking with the whole, whatever happens happens thing in regards to miles mother mike the plumber

Hey Mike V, is tonight just a recap, nothing new tonight? It seemed at the end of last episode that they said a recap from a different viewpoint, are we gonna get any new information tonight, or just a recap to get everyone on the same page do you think?

Yeah, it's a BRAND NEW "RECAP" episode. So I'm sure they're going to show the Oceanic's 6 journey from when they left the island and how they got back and the reason they came back (for what we know so far)

Joy - my husband jumped on that as well, but to me it's just what Ben has said. It's still not proven as we now know that both Ben and Widmore have had the documentation regarding the purchase of the plane.

I could never decide if Kate knew that Aaron was Jack's half-nephew or not. But last night the voice-over said they were both shocked when Claire's mom told them.

Overall - the clipfest kinda blew. I usually don't watch them, but this one promised a 'different perspective' so I decided to check it out. But there was no new perspective to speak of.

What lies in the shadow of the stature? After seeing the clips from last night, it could be the Lamppost Station... did you notice the large statue behind Desmond as he walked up to the others at the church? The way the lights shone on the statue, put the church... and what is underneath... in its shadow.So does this mean Mrs Hawking is behind the armed 316ers?

Jenn, I'm thinking on the list of priorities they have at answering all of the questions in lost, that one probably is ranked really low! lol I'm thinking it was probably some kind of production goof. Similar to Desmond being in Widmore's office in season 3 and the walls changing in every shot. Similar to Kate having 2006 printed money in a 2002/2003ish flashback. Why the PICTURES would change though? I have no idea. But I'm not holding my breath to find out that one!

I have no input on the Recap and them saying that Charles planted the plane. I guess it would seem like that is the case since it was on an official recap. But, I don't know who creates these recaps. If it's the LOST production team themselves or someone at ABC. If ABC, they may have made assumptions based on the episodes they've seen and information they had...and somehow it got past the LOST team. But, I guess I'd say it's a pretty good bet at this point that it was Widmore that planted the plane.

interesting with the shadow of the statue maybe implicating the LAMP POST. I guess it COULD be....but I still tend to think it's either just a "handshake/password" expression like "what did one snowman say to the other" or it LITERALLY is talking about the statue on the island.

I don't know why Bram would ask Miles if he knew what lies in the shadow of the statue...and when miles said no...he'd say "THEN you're not ready to go to the island" If Miles said "duh...the lamp post" Then would bram have said "oh, okay, go ahead with the freighter crew! You're ready!"? lol

Oh well...i'm really clueless either way with that Shadow of the Statue stuff. But definitely intrigued to find out!!

I didn’t watch the clip show but Darlton have stated that they are not responsible for the info provided in the enhanced episodes and they shouldn't be considered canon. So I’m assuming that a clip shows info shouldn’t be canon either.

I have been a fan of LOST since teh first episode..I haven't had anyone to talk about LOST with because my friends don't watch :( So I have recruited my 8 year old son thus season to watch with me :) He's very intelligent and believe it or not grasps most concepts of whats going on in the show..I love this blog Mike V because it helps me keep all the theories of what everyone else and myself thinks is going to happen. Once again, love da blog!!

Thanks for the props on the blog anonymous. Never too early to get your kids watching this show in my opinion! lol

Okay...so I just listened to the Official ABC podcast that was mainly just a bunch of jokes about ewoks and stuff. Pretty entertaining stuff. But 2 interesting Q&A questions came up...one addressing things that might come up in next week's episode. First question is SAFE. 2nd Question MAY be spoilerish...but I find it to be merely intriguing and worth pondering until next Wednesday!

Q1: Were there originally 2 helicopters on the freighter? (Naomi's crashed in ocean)

Answer: Yes there was the SCOUT Helicopter which Naomi flew and then the HERO Helicopter that Lapidus flew. Apparently in certain shots of the freighter you can see 2 helipads...and in MEET KEVIN JOHNSON apparently you can see 2 helicopters on the freighter when Michael boards. I had been befuddled by this for awhile. So, maybe I just missed it!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

QUESTION 2: Will Faraday's Memory issues be addressed on the show, specifically during next week's episode THE VARIABLE?

Answer: The producers feel that they have given us plenty of clues to realize that Daniel is having issues with his memory. E.g. Charlotte quizing him with the flash cards in season 4, him not remembering meeting Desmond in 1996. They believe it is safe to assume that Daniel has done experimentations on himself causing these memory issues. What they said might be addressed on the show is what Daniel is going to DO about these memory issues. They cited the Island's Healing powers may be a reason that Daniel is even on the island. And they mentioned that the actual term "THE VARIABLE" may have something to do with these memory issues. They said that the person who asked the question should be very satisfied by next week's episode.

Me taking it further - this will probably address Desmond getting the memories in the future as it was communicated to him from Daniel in the future! This should be a good time!!!

END SPOILERS

BTW - Team Darlton said they did not seek out to make the 100th hour of their show any more special than the rest, but they feel that next week's episode will probably stand out as one of the best of this season. Pretty exciting stuff!

I think the EGO MANIAC is only speaking from 8-9 which will push Scrubs and Better Off Ted to next week or something. I don't think LOST is affected. (except that it might start late depending on if Mr. 100 Days decides to keep talking to his media buddies) Yeah, I will not be thrilled at all if the LOST schedule gets changed in any way! I already have my vacation scheduled for May 14th to write that damn finale blog! lol

Back from vacation and another dose of "LOST". Great recap as always, Mike. And there was a plethora of fantastic Hurley lines. I was wondering if he was going to freak out when he saw them putting the numbers on the hatch- he handled it pretty well I think. He's coming to grips with being in the past looks like. Love the fact that he's writing Star Wars Episode 5 - good times! I'm with you: how are they getting on and off the island, other than the sub, and how did they get all those construction things onto the island to be able to create all the stations?

Loved getting the Miles backstory, finally. Touching scene having him see his father and himself as a baby.

Still a bit confused as to where Daniel has been all this time -but I guess that's to be expected, since they haven't shown us. There definitely is more Mrs. Hawkings to figure out. Interesting that this was a Ben-free episode - his character seems to pervade so many of the shows. As for Bram, I'm wondering also just who they are: all we know is they are anti-Widmore, but that doesn't mean thay are pro-Ben.

The shadow of the statue - I'm thinking that the "statue" might not be what we assume it is. We'll see.

We've got the Season 6 DVD coming on Day One (Aug. 24) so we are rationing out the remaining few episodes.

Welcome back to the Lost Watch LOST Family! Thanks for the props and I'm still impressed you're keeping up with these recaps as you watch each episode.

The good news about all of the questions you ask are that they pile on so many more questions, that eventually you don't even think about how they got stuff on and off of the island! lol

You'll definitely get more info on Daniel soon enough. The next episode was the 100th episode of LOST and they hyped it up as the "counterpart" to The Constant. As in...if you liked the Constant, then you'll lile The Variable too (get it? Constants and Variables?? lol) It's a good one, but it's definitely tough to live up to being as good as THE CONSTANT. Such an awesome episode.

All good ponderings on Bram, Ben and the Statue. I'm keeping quiet on all of that!

Good job getting Season 6 pre-ordered! I'm very excited to pick it up in 25 days!

I really liked this episode, but not quite as much as the past three or four shows. It wasn't due to Miles backstory, which I found quite entertaining, especially the scenes with Naomi. And I liked all the stuff about Miles and his dad Pierre Chang, too, which finally gave both Miles and Chang a little heart and pathos. I also liked the "Circle of Trust" mission and all the hilarious dialogue that Hurley and Miles had during their time together.

It was more the Roger storyline that didn't hold my interest. Of course, nobody likes Roger anyway, so the sudden concern and affection he displayed for the son he had verbally and physically abused all his life held little agency for me. It wasn't just the time we spent with Roger, but how that time seemed to drag. It just brought the episode down a notch for me. But just a tiny notch. It was still a solid ep!

Miles truly does have a gift and sometimes he used it to con people out of money, but the gift is going to have a lot more payoff on the island than just being able to tell what some red-shirt named Alvarez was doing when he died. Some day he's going to tell people what a very important dead person has to say!

The Football Dad is none the than Dean Norris from a little show called Breaking Bad (where he plays DEA agent Hank). Norris was already well into filming the second season of BB when he guest starred on Lost. There were a couple other guest stars from current shows I've noticed over season 5 and didn't mention, but I couldn't help mentioning Hank!

As the show came to a close, I thought surely Sayid can't be gone much longer. And I was already itching to get back to Sun and Locke's story. But I put both of those on the back burner when Daniel Faraday stepped out of the sub at the end of this episode! The brainiac finally returns in 1977! How I have missed you, my geeky time-shifting mastermind! What surprises do you have in store for us? Now this should be good!

Oh and by the way, Mike, I am certainly fond of the name Miles, but it isn't my real name. It's merely a screen name I adopted for my own non-prolific, virtually unread and filthy dirty blog. If you pronounce my name slowly and phonetically, you will get the joke!

Indeed, as you predicted last season, I have grown quite fond of Miles on Lost as he grew into a major secondary character.

Being a huge Star Wars fan, I absolutely loved this episode. Of course, you did too but you didn't like the Roger story. Yeah, he got pretty annoying, but he always was (as you said also). BTW...I'm sure you noticed Hank from Breaking Bad in Miles' flashbacks. I saw this BEFORE I started watching breaking bad so I didn't put the 2 together until a rewatch. (BTW...just saw that you pointed this out too in your comment. lol oops!) I've mentioned several times, but Breaking Bad is on my list as one of the best dramas to ever grace the small screen. Can't wait for episode 2 of 8 in this final stretch tomorrow night!

Totally did not put together your "screen name" until you explained. Pretty funny stuff! lol And I'm glad Miles Straume (also a play on words) has grown on you!